Updates from the G.A.N.G. Leadership

It’s high time for an update from the officers and boards to let you know what’s going on. Simply put, it’s quite a lot.

G.A.N.G. was founded to help audio professionals and aspiring professionals in games, and we’ve had a lot of feedback recently on how best to do that. But before we list our plan, let’s talk about who has joined our organization of late, as they’ve been a big help in kicking things into high gear:

Savina Ciaramella was introduced at GDC as our Director of Sponsor Relations. Having a lot of experience in the music industry, she will be communicating regularly with all sponsors and making sure the most mutual value is created. Sponsors are important for G.A.N.G. to operate, and having someone dedicated to them was seen as a top priority.

Liza Rivera Salta joins our team as Treasurer. Welcome Liza! Liza has extensive experience in the financial sector and will be advising us on budget and all aspects of financial planning.

We also want to shout out to Richard Savery who is not new to G.A.N.G. but who is the one you should thank for the interviews and great newsletter content that you see, as well as updating website events and helping with specific membership questions.

What came out of our leadership summit this past July was a plan to make G.A.N.G. as inclusive and helpful as possible to the game audio community. What does that mean?

1.) We have developed a new mission statement based on four pillars that are the foundation of G.A.N.G.
2.) We are drafting a G.A.N.G. Code of ethics, representing the core values of the organization.
3.) We will be upping the amount of member perks (such as discounts on software and discount on GDC registration, GameSoundCon registration, etc) significantly.
4.) We will be providing video tutorials and interviews, exclusive content for the membership, on a range of subjects representing sage advice from many of the top names in game music and sound design.
5.) We will be phasing out our forums and moving our discussions exclusively to email and social media, particularly the G.A.N.G. Facebook page.
6.) We are making some structural changes in the organization as well. Specifically we are changing how our advisory board is selected. Rather than being appointed, half the advisory will be voted in by the membership at large. The advisory board provides input the board and GANG leadership on a variety of topics, and also faces the herculean task of winnowing down all the G.A.N.G. award nominees to the 5 finalists in most of the categories. Stay tuned in the coming weeks for details on the advisory board election process.
7.) As part of our ongoing effort to improve the G.A.N.G. Awards, Chance Thomas is leading the effort to create a new Music Voting Committee for the 2016 G.A.N.G. Awards. This will recruit additional members outside the boards and officers to choose the nominees.
8.) We are starting a “refer a friend” program! For every person you refer that becomes a professional member, you get $25!
9.) We will continue and look to expand the G.A.N.G. Scholars program, which this last March sent 5 deserving students to GDC and is sending 5 more to GameSoundCon in November.

This is in addition to our already existing white papers and articles, newsletters and scholarships.

We also plan to interview more members on a regular basis so as many people as possible get a spotlight on their particular skill sets, thoughts and ideas.

We hope you continue to be a part of our organization and invite others to join!